1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an installation for the bending of glazings, comprising a continuous furnace intended to heat the glazings to the bending temperature, a station for bending by pressing with a lower shape and an upper suction shape, a plate suction means that can be displaced longitudinally to transport the glazings from the conveyor of the continuous furnace to the station for bending by pressing, and an annular support frame that can be displaced horizontally to transport the bent glazings from the station for bending by pressing to a cooling station.
2. Description of the Related Art
Installations with such a structure are, for example, described in EP-0 229 337 B1 and US-PS-4 741 751. In these known installations, during the introduction of the glazing into the bending press, the plate-suction means is displaced to a position between the pressing shapes of the stationary-mounted bending press. A relatively long production cycle results because the following glazing can be introduced into the bending station only when the support frame carrying the already bent glazing has left the bending station.
Installations of the above type and exhibiting a shortened production cycle are known from EP-0 183 418 and US-PS-5 004 491. In these known installations, the lower bending form of the press is able to move and, between the station for bending by pressing and the roller conveyor, an additional transfer station is provided in which the glazing to be bent is transferred from the plate suction means to the lower bending shape. While this transport is being performed, the preceding glazing, already bent, is simultaneously deposited on a frame from the stationary upper suction shape. When the annular frame for transport is displaced to the cooling station, the lower bending shape on which the following glazing is laid is displaced simultaneously to the station for bending by pressing.
In the case of the installation known from EP-0 183 418, the lower shape is designed as a concave bending mold, whereas, in the case of US-PS-5 004 491, it is designed as a convex bending mold. In both cases, the glazing is deposited flat by the plate-suction means onto the lower shape, which it touches necessarily only at the highest points of the molding surface. Because of this relatively unstable position before the bending operation, no significant braking or accelerating force can be exerted on the bending mold during the transport of the glazing to the bending station using the lower shape, so that this transport operation can be performed only at a low speed. For this reason, the gain in production cycle time is relatively slight in relation to the known installations cited above.